People Round-Up, Early October 2017

PEOPLE

Jennifer Besser will become SVP and Publishing Director of Roaring Brook Press, Farrar, Straus & Giroux Children’s, and First Second on October 30, following the retirement of Simon Boughton. She is currently President and Publisher of Putnam Children’s.

At Candlewick Press, Karen Walsh joins as Executive Director of Publicity for brands and key titles. She was most recently Executive Director of Publicity, Children’s at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Pamela Bobowicz has joined Abrams Children’s as Executive Editor of Licensed Publishing. She was previously Senior Editor for HarperCollins Children’s.

At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s, Veronica Wasserman joins as Executive Director of Marketing and Brand Strategy. She most recently was Brand Director of Wimpy Kid marketing at Abrams. Michael Dudding has joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as Senior Marketing Manager. Previously, he was Digital Publishing and Marketing Manager at Grove/Atlantic. Sari Kamin has joined HMH as Senior Publicity Manager. Breanne Sommer, most recently Account Executive at Handcrafted PR, has joined as Publicity Manager.

Jim Childs will retire as Publisher at Globe Pequot on October 31, after three years at the press and forty years in publishing.

At Sourcebooks, Jordan Kost has joined as Creative Director, Children’s, moving over from her previous role as Creative Director for Albert Whitman.

Byrd Leavell is now Literary Agent at United Talent Agency. He was previously Partner at the Waxman Leavell Literary Agency, which will now revert to its original name, Waxman Literary Agency.

At other agencies…Adrienne Rosado has joined Stonesong as Literary Agent, having worked previously as Literary Director at Leibo Literary. Rachel Vogel, formerly Agent at Waxman Leavell Literary Agency, is now Agent at Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. Jennifer Chen Tran joins the Bradford Literary Agency as Agent, moving over from her position as Associate Agent at Fuse Literary. At Root Literary, Molly O’Neill, most recently of Waxman Leavell, is now Agent. Margo Beth Fleming has joined Brockman, Inc. as Agent; she was previously Senior Editor at Stanford University Press.

Hannah Moushabeck will join Nobrow/Flying Eye Books as Associate Director of Sales and Marketing mid-month. She has been working as Associate Marketing Manager at Chronicle Books.

Caitlin Sweeny will join Simon & Schuster Children’s Books as Associate Marketing Director on October 10, moving over from her role as Senior Marketing Manager at Macmillan Children’s. Vanessa DeJesus has joined as Associate Publicist; she was previously Assistant Manager of Author Events for Macmillan. Jasmine Hodge is now Publicity Assistant, and Nicole Benevento joins as Marketing & Publicity Assistant.

Michelle Campbell has joined Little, Brown Children’s as Senior Manager of School and Library Marketing. Most recently, she was Manager of Library and Educational Marketing for Scholastic.

At the University Press of Florida, Peter Van Woerden has been hired as Assistant Director of Business and Finance. He was most recently Director, Finance and Operations at American Psychiatric Association Publishing.

Former Editor-in-Chief Becky Nesbit is returning to Howard Books as Editor-at-Large. Philis Boultinghouse has retired from Howard following the closing of its Nashville office.

At Holiday House, Miriam Miller joins as Senior Subsidiary Rights Manager. She was most recently Subsidiary Rights Manager for Macmillan Children’s.

Lindsey Hall joined Tor as Senior Editor; she was previously Editor at Orbit.

Shannon Jamieson Vasquez is now Senior Acquisitions Editor at Crooked Lane. She will continue to run SJV Editorial and was previously Editor at Berkley.

At Rodale Books, Shane Danaher joins as Associate Web Producer and Maureen Cirnitski joins as Project Editor.

Nina Shield moves to TarcherPerigee as Editor. She was previously Editor and Backlist Manager for Plume/Blue Rider Press. Alison Coolidge, previously Associate Publicist at Blue Rider, has joined Portfolio/Sentinel as Publicist. At Random House Children’s, Connie Le is now Brand Manager. In addition, Nancee Adams has joined as Copy Editor and Bess Schelper has joined as Associate Copy Editor.

At Verso Books, Jessie Kindig has joined as Editor. She was formerly Associate Agent at Roam Agency.

At HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Jocelyn Bailey has joined as Acquisitions Editor for Thomas Nelson and Zondervan.

At DK, Kelsey Curtis has joined as Publicist. Previously, she was Account Executive for Zeno Group.

Sandra Law is joining Abraham Associates effective October 11 as Sales Rep for Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and parts of Chicago. She replaces Roy Schonfeld, who is retiring at the end of the year, and has most recently worked as Store Manager at Anderson’s Bookshop in La Grange, Illinois.

PROMOTIONS

Todd Stocke has been promoted to SVP, Editorial Director for Sourcebooks.

At Diamond Comic Distributors, Josh Hayes has been promoted to EVP of the book market division, Diamond Book Distributors. Kuo-Yu Liang will become VP, International Sales and Business Development .

At Penguin Random House, Manuel Sangrise is now VP, Global Corporate Finance and Lindsey Elias has been promoted to Associate Director of Consumer Shows and Conferences. At Portfolio/Sentinel, Margot Stamas is now Assistant Director of Publicity and Alyssa Adler is now Associate Publicist. Ginny Smith Younce is now Executive Editor at Penguin Press. At Random House Children’s, Lauren Adams has been promoted to Senior Marketing Manager of Licensed and Proprietary Brands.

Lindsey Lochner is now VP, Marketing Engagement at NetGalley and will be responsible for all marketing and advertising services for NetGalley and Bookish.com. Kristina Radke has been promoted to VP, Business Growth and Engagement. Tarah Theoret has been promoted to Director, Community Engagement.

Hannah Harlow has been promoted to Executive Director of Marketing at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Lisa DiSarro has been promoted to Executive Director of Marketing at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s.

Jackie Panetta has been promoted to Assistant Director of Operations at the University Press of Florida.

At Abrams Children’s, Maggie Lehrman has been promoted to Executive Editor. Traci Todd becomes Editorial Director.

Beth Adams has been promoted to Executive Editor at Howard Books.

Brit Hvide has been promoted to Senior Editor at Orbit. Nivia Evans has been promoted to Associate Editor.

At Simon & Schuster, Julianna Haubner has been promoted to Associate Editor. Aubrey Churchward has been promoted to Publicist at Simon & Schuster Children’s.

Lily Kessinger and Nicole Sclama have been promoted to Associate Editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s. Harriet Low is now Editorial Associate.

Laura Brown has been promoted to Editor at HarperCollins.

At Massie & McQuilkin, Lexi Wangler has been promoted to Junior Agent and Foreign Rights Associate.

DULY NOTED

Producer and distributor of audiobooks RBmedia purchased Gildan Media for an undisclosed price.

In distribution news: Tuttle Publishing is moving their print distribution from Simon & Schuster to Publishers Group West as of January 2018. PGW already distributes Tuttle’s ebooks. Beginning March 2018, Simon & Schuster will handle sales and worldwide distribution to the book trade for Oni Press.

Heather Jackson, lately of the David Black Literary Agency, has launched the Heather Jackson Literary Agency, a full-service agency focusing on commercial fiction and nonfiction.

JMH Scouting now scouts for Muza in Poland.

Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency now represents translation and audio rights for Wharton Digital Press.